Socket wrench



July I, 1952 sp 2,601,798

SOCKET WRENCH Filed Jan. 7, 1948 IN VEN TOR. .llE/MQV b. SPf/VCZ 29, c mzbyy Patented July 1, 1952 UN IT ED STATE S 1 PATENT OF F-IC'E SOCKET WRENCH Henry U. Spence, Painesville. Ohio Application January 7, 1948, Serial No. 985

1 Claim. 1

The present invention relates to a socket wrench and more particularly to a socket wrench for the removaland replacement of hexagonal headed screws.

An object of the invention is to provide a wrench having a gear driven socket so that the socket can be placed over the heads of screws or bolts which are in a location which make it difficult to handle by the usual type of wrench or manually.

Another object of the invention is to provide a socket for a wrench, which socket will fit a plurality of screw or bolt heads of different diameters without causing injury to the heads.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a wrench having a gear driven socket which is simple in design and is inexpensive to fabricate.

Other objects and advantage of the invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred form of the invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side view in elevation of a wrench;

Fig. 2 is a top view in elevation of the wrench;

Fig. 3 is a view in section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2 but on a larger scale; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view, partly in section, showing the socket and driving gears for the socket.

Referring now to the drawings, I have shown a wrench which is particularly suitable for removing hexagonal head screws from an automobile engine distributor. The screws are located in the distributor where space is limited making it difficult to turn them manually or by the usual open end wrenches. Oftentimes, in removing or replacing the screws, they fall down into the distributor and it is difficult to retrieve them. The present wrench is designed to provide a socket which can be placed over the screw heads and then the socket rotated one way or the other by rotating a gear remote from the socket, thus affording means for removing and replacing the point screws without the difficulties just referred to.

The wrench shown in the drawings is comprised of a main flat member having a gear driven socket ll mounted at one end thereof. The member II] is of such length that approximately half of it will form a suitable handle. Two gears l2 and I3 are mounted on the member II by axles I4 and 15, respectively, which extend at right angles to th member 10. A flat strip I 1 formed of similar stock as the member Ill extends parallel to the member ID and on the outside of gears IZ and l3. The member I1 is secured in place by theaxles Hand 1 5,.theei1ds of which extend through openings in member I1 and are peened over ,against'the surface of the member. The A axles are. similarly attached to the main member l 0. Preferably. the ,end' of the member I! adjacent to the gear 12 is turned inwardly as at l8 to form a spacer between the parallel extending portions of members l0 and IT.

The socket I I is formed of an open ended tubular member having a gear 19 attached thereto adjacent one end. A plurality of slots 20 extend from the opposite end of the member longitudinally thereof and they terminate short of the end of the socket carrying the gear 19. These slots are preferably spaced at 60 degrees so that they may receive the edges of a hexagonal head. It is to be understood that a few or greater number of these slots could be formed to receive the corners of screw or bolt heads having other shapes. The width of the slots are such that three difierent sizes of hexagonal heads may be received in the socket member and in each instance the corners of the heads will be received in the slots.

The interior of the socket member is reamed out so that there will be three sections indicated at a, b, and 0, having different diameters and these diameters decrease from the slotted end of the socket inwardly. These sections may be formed by one reaming operation by a reamer having corresponding diameters. The three diameters permit the reception of three different size heads and the slots 20 receive the corners of the heads to form a grip to rotate the latter.

The handle member ID is provided with an opening 2| which is adapted to receive the socket member II and the gear 19 is held intermediate the members It and I! for holding the socket member in place and the gear I9 also meshes with gear 13 so that when gear I 2 is rotated the socket will be rotated in the same direction. It will be seen that the socket member can be rotated by moving gear l2 which is remote therefrom so that the socket can be inserted into a confined area to either thread or unthread the screws from their complementary sockets. The gear 12 is easily rotated by the thumb of the hand holding the wrench so that it is a simple matter to operate the wrench.

Preferably, the end of the handle member H] opposite the end carrying the socket has jaws 23 formed thereon for tightening or loosening the screw heads prior to their removal or replacement by the socket. One of the jaws is undercut 3 as at 24 to accommodate different sizes of heads.

Also, for the convenience of the mechanic there is mounted a plurality of feeler gauges 25 which may be used in adjusting the points in the distributor.

It is apparent that my improved wrench provides a tool which is extremely useful and it can be easily fabricated with but few parts formed by relatively simple operations.

Although I have described but one form of the invention, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all falling within the scope of the claim which follows.

I claim: a

A socket wrench comprising a flat elongated member having an opening therethrough at one end thereof, a second fiat elongated member extending along the first member and supported in spaced relation thereto to form a space between said members, a unitary gear and socket wrench supported by said members and comprising a relatively flat gear lying in the space be tween said members and an integral socket wrench of a diameter smaller than the diameter of the gear projecting through the opening in the first mentioned flat member whereby the gear and socket wrench are journalled in said first elongated member, said second flat member engaging a side face of the gear to maintain the socket wrench in position in said opening, said socket wrench comprising a cylindrical member having an open end and provided with longitudinally extending circumferentially spaced slots extending from said open end to receive corners of heads inserted therein, the interior of the socket having a plurality of cylindrical sections of varying diameter arranged in end to end relationship to receive heads of varying sizes.

HENRY U. SPENCE.

REFERENCES CITED Thefollowing references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

